


5 Times the Team Noticed Something Odd About the Original Side-kicks and the One Time the Didn't Find Out Why

by Ivyhunter10



Category: DCU, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Bad Cooking, Bromance, Could be read as DC's Legends of Tomorow Complaint, DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV) References, Dancing, Gen, Justice Society of America (DCU), M'gann's cooking, Magic, Robin and KF bromance, Secret Identity, Slice of Life, Time Travel, justice league - Freeform, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:34:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22624123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ivyhunter10/pseuds/Ivyhunter10
Summary: AKA: Lost From Time's GraspRobin and Kid Flash had been a part of this hero business for a lot longer than any of them but Aqualad. Kaldur had said that the two of them were closer to eachother than he was with them. So, the rest of the Team expected them to have some in jokes and idiosyncracies.Some of these things were just a little too weird.And what does Roy, Zatanna, and Garth have to do with this?
Comments: 5
Kudos: 212





	5 Times the Team Noticed Something Odd About the Original Side-kicks and the One Time the Didn't Find Out Why

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fic I wrote a long time ago. I've dusted off some of the cobwebs and have decided to post it to AO3 because I like the premise.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own YJ, or DCU.

#1 The Dancing Hall

It was a rather slow day on the Mountain. Superboy was staring at static. Miss Martian was in her room, studying Earth culture (or as everybody else calls it: watching TV).

“Ugh, I’m so bored.”

“Baywatch, you’re always bored.” Artemis huffed. “The only exceptions being when you’re flirting with some girl or stuffing your face with Miss Martian’s cooking.”

“Hey! First off,” KF said holding up a finger. “I have an accelerated metabolism, so I have to eat a lot unless you want me to be in a hypoglycemic induced coma. Secondly,” KF raised another finger. “Miss M’s cooking is really good, and I don’t flirt that much.”

“As if! You flirt with any pretty girl that crosses your path.”

“Oh, is someone self-conscious about their looks?”

“What the hell are you talking about kid mou-“

The comm cut her off.

“Team, you have a mission. Debrief in five minutes.”

“Yes!” KF jumped of the couch, speed changed into his costume and raced off to the mission room. It took him all of about 2 seconds.

“Great,” Artemis said, moving the hair out of her face. “Kid Whirlwind strikes again.”

“If you do not mind me asking, why are you so antagonistic towards Kid Flash?” Aqualad asked her.

Artemis groaned, “He’s so annoying. Like a child hyped up on sugar or something. I just can’t stand him.” She walked off to the change rooms in a huff.

Aqualad frowned after her. Teammates should have greater respect for each other, even if there was a personality conflict. Especially in their line of work, where one’s life could be dependant on their teammate helping them.

Then, already in his suit, he walked to the conference room.

“The League has found leads indicating that a group of thieves, previously linked to various super villains in other incidents, has been targeting a 1940s themed dance hall. It’s your job to go in, find what they are after and prevent it from being stolen.” Batman said, the massive screen behind him showing an image of the dance hall in question. “We believe that they are after a relic of the Justice Society of America that has since found its way into the hands of the dance hall. We aren’t too sure about what it does, as the members responsible for it are either dead or missing, but we do know what it looks like.”

Batman changed the screen to show an image of the object. It looked like any old ring.

“To keep up appearances you’ll go in as dance partners. Miss Martian, you are with Superboy. Artemis, Aqualad. Which means Robin, you’re with Kid Flash.”

Robin and Kid Flash shared a look. Actually, it was more of a shockingly intense staring contest, although Artemis couldn’t figure out why. For some reason Robin actually got along with Kid Flash. It didn’t make sense that they’d be practically glaring at each other right now.

Eventually, Robin looked away and sighed in resignation. As he walked towards his room to get ready, he mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like: “I’ll go get my dress.”

A few hours later found them at the Dance Hall. All of them were in period dress. Although Robin was dressed up, rather convincingly, like a woman.

As the next song started up Wally grinned and turned to look at Dick. “You have to dance to this song. You can’t not.”

Dick took a quick glance at their teammates and what they were doing. He did not want any witnesses to this. Miss M and Superboy were dancing, albeit rather poorly, and it was the wrong dance for this song, and completely out of sync with the rhythm.

Artemis and Aqualad stood out like a sore thumb. Not only were they not dancing, they were leaning against the wall, off to the side, looking like they would rather be anywhere but here. Especially Artemis, she was anxious, tapping her foot and rather obviously scanning the room. The only saving grace she had was that she could be waiting to meet someone. Aqualad looked outright uncomfortable in his outfit. Actually, so did Superboy.

Needless to say, all four of them looked out of place. The thieves would notice them for what they were pretty quickly, if they hadn’t already. They likely wouldn’t be able to get close to the object, which was in the next room in a display case along with other period pieces. They needed a distraction. Something to distract not just the civilians, but also the thieves from their presence as infiltrators.

Sighing Robin took another look at all the dancers.

They were good, sure.

But he had seen better.

Turning back to Wally a grin split Dick’s face. “Let’s show these kids how it’s done.”

“Milady?” Wally extended his hand.

Rolling his eyes Dick took it.

“You guys have to see this!” Artemis screamed over the mind link.

“What is it?” Miss Martian asked.

“Kid Flash and Robin are dancing,” She watched Robin twirl out from under Wally’s arm. “They’re actually really good.”

“Really? Where?” M’gann responded.

“Over by the food table.” Artemis thought. Of course they were over by the food. With Wally’s appetite there’s no way they wouldn’t be but…

Where the hell did they learn to dance like that?

“I was not aware that Wally knew how to swing dance.” Miss Martian was a little confused but impressed. From what she had seen most earth boys didn’t know how to dance. Not to mention this was an older dance. Even she didn’t know how, and she had researched different types of Earth dances when she had first arrived.

“Neither was I.” Aqualad said. The rest of the team was surprised. He had known both Wally and Robin longer than any of them. So, the fact that he didn’t know of this talent was shocking.

‘I guess dancing just didn’t come up before.’ Artemis thought to herself. ‘Still… where did they learn to dance like that? Dancing skills don’t just come out of the blue, and that level of skill comes from years of practice. Maybe Batman made Robin learn and Wally… well, Wally is a bit strange.’

“What I want to know is where they learned such an outdated dance. The last time swing was popular was over fifty years ago.” Artemis said.

“Maybe they learnt it for the mission?” Miss Martian suggested.

“Why does his even matter? So, what? They can dance. Can we get back to the mission?” Superboy interrupted.

“Superboy is right. We should focus on the mission at hand. Kid Flash and Robin’s dancing can be left until later.” Aqualad said.

The comms buzzed. “Hey guys, KF and I just spotted one of the perps, we’re going to follow after him.”

‘They can dance that good and still keep an eye on the mission?’ Artemis thought. ‘So, not fair.’

#2 (Wally is it Just me or is That Alan?) (Zatanna- Does he Look Familiar to you?)

The thieves got away, but not with the ring. However, during the scuffle they did something to the ring that ‘activated’ it. Whatever it was supposed to do the thieves had left shortly after. Robin pursued them through the hallway at the back of the dance hall but stopped when he saw a glowing green light coming out of one of the rooms.

“Hey KF, you really need to see this!”

Wally speeded over.

“What is it Rob?”

Robin just pointed at the prone body he had found laying on the floor of the room, the green light petering out around him.

“Who is- Wait is that… Alan Scott?”

“It looks like.” Robin said.

‘Robin, Kid Flash, report in. What is your status?’ Aqualad said over the mental link.

‘This is Robin. We’ve got an unconscious man that needs to be taken to the med bay ASAP and contact the League. They’re going to want to see this.’

Later on, at the Cave the team was in the debriefing room with Batman.

“Who is he? You seem to know him.” Miss Martian asked Batman.

Batman gave a curt nod. “Yes, his name is Alan Scott. He was the Green Lantern during the days of the Justice Society.”

“Wait,” Superboy said. “Didn’t the Justice society operate in the 1940s and 50s?”

“Yes.”

“Then why is he here?” Artemis asked.

“The better question is how, is he here? Robin, have you managed to find any additional knowledge?” Batman turned to his partner.

“Not really.” Robin looked up from his wrist computer. “I’ve looked at the old JSA files, He disappeared for a brief period in 1948. The Justice Society didn’t know where he went, and he wouldn’t say after he returned. Maybe this is where he went. Er, well, I guess when he went.”

“But why?” Batman wondered.

Robin and KF shrugged their shoulders.

“We have no idea,” Robin said, tapping on his wrist computer. “And there’s no mention on any leads the Justice Society may have had on the cause of his disappearance. He just didn’t show up for a meeting and when they looked for him, they couldn’t find him. It seems they didn’t have any idea either.”

“So, what are we going to do with him?”

“We’ll wait until he wakes up and then question him for anything he might remember about what happened before he got sent here. Then we’ll work on a way to send him home.” Batman said, watching the unconscious man on the bed in the medbay. The team was crowded around behind him.

“I have work to do. Robin, meet me at the batcave in a couple of hours. We have a case involving the Riddler.” He said then swooped off to the Zeta beams.

“Will do Bats.” Robin called after him monotonously. He got no reply, but he was sure that he had been heard.

With Batman gone the team crowded in closer to Alan Scott.

“Has anyone called the surviving members of the JSA yet?” Zatanna asked.

“I don’t think so. Batman’s probably going to ask them some questions in person after Alan wakes up though. It’s just how he operates.” Robin supplied.

“I’ll go call Jay and tell him to pass the message along.” Kid Flash said in a rush and then speed off to go find an actual phone. The Garricks didn’t have a communicator he could use to call them.

“I should probably go too.” Robin said. “Bats might’ve said in a couple of hours, but he really meant ‘now,’ and I do not want to get on his bad side.” He gave the unconscious man one last look before leaving the medbay and heading towards the Zeta beams.

The rest of the team stayed and watched the patient.

“He’s actually from the 1940s?” Artemis didn’t really ask, more stated.

“Yes, as far as we can tell that is Alan Scott.” Aqualad replied.

“Oh, this is so exciting!” M’gann cheered. “We get to meet a member of the JSA when they were in their prime. I wonder what it was like to be a superhero back then. I don’t really have much contact with the older heroes, so this is really exciting. A person from the 1940s, right here, in the Mountain.” She floated slightly off the ground, hands clapped together in front of her chest.

“It is exciting Miss Martian. Although I will ask that you hold off on interrogating Mr. Scott until later. Once he awakens he will be disorientated. He did, after all, just travel over fifty years into the future.” Red Tornado spoke, entering the room.

“Hello M’gann! Of course, he will be. I just get so excited sometimes, and then I forget myself.” M’gann apologized.

M’gann’s face twisted into a frown. “I feel like I’m forgetting something… My cookies!” She shot off in the air towards the kitchen, where her cookies were being threatened by the menace that is burning from prolonged oven exposure.

The rest of the team followed her, in the hope of fresh cookies.

The rest of the team, that is, except for Zatanna. She continued to stare at the sleeping man in front of her.

He looked… familiar, although she couldn’t place from where. Maybe she had seen a picture of him before? Yes, that was probably it. Her father, who was a Homo magus like herself (and therefore aged slower than non-magicians once they had physically matured), had spent some time working with the JSA when he was in his early twenties. That’s probably where she knew him from.

With that problem solved, she too, joined her team in the hunt for fresh cookies.

#3 World War Two: Who Knew Speedy was a History Buff?

“Urgh.” Artemis grunted, flopping onto the couch beside M’gann.

“What’s wrong Artemis?” M’gann asked.

Artemis rubbed her face. “It’s this stupid history paper I have to write. It has to be about the effects of World War Two in the United States, but I have no idea what to write about. We all have to pick a different focus question and all the easy or interesting ones have already been taken.”

“Sorry, I don’t think I can really help. Why don’t you ask Robin, he knows a lot of things.” M’gann suggested.

“I would,” Artemis replied. “But he’s off in Gotham doing something with Batman.”

“Why don’t you do it on the JSA?” Red Arrow interrupted, walking into the room beside Wally.

“What are you doing here?” Artemis accused. “I thought you didn’t want to work with us kids.”

Red Arrow rolled his eyes. “Apparently, helping you. Now why don’t you write about the JSA. They were involved with World War Two. Mostly undercover stuff. Some of the Nazis tried to get their hands in some magic artifacts, and then of course Vandal Savage was involved with them too. It wasn’t very highly publicized because of the nature of the missions.”

Artemis narrowed her eyes. “And how do you know this?”

Red Arrow shrugged. “I’m a bit of a history buff, I guess. Also, when the old, retired heroes stop in for a visit or something, I actually listen to what they have to say. They’ve got some pretty interesting stories to tell.”

“Yeah,” Kid Flash agreed. “There was this one that Mr. Garrick talks about-“

“Thanks,” Artemis said curtly, cutting Kid Flash off. She got up from the couch and started to walk towards the hallway.

“Hey, where are you going? I wasn’t done my story!” KF yelled after her.

Artemis didn’t stop or turn around. She just waved. “I’ve got a paper to write. So, goodbye and see you later.”

#4 The Mystery of M’gann’s Cookies (or how KF and Robin can eat Them)

Artemis stared with morbid fascination at the two boys sitting at the counter, eating M’gann’s burnt, dry as couch stuffing, cookies.

“What is so fascinating?” Kaldur asked, approaching from behind her.

“How is that even possible.” She croaked out, gobsmacked at the two. Those cookies smelt so bad she wouldn’t go within twenty feet of them. M’gann had been in the process of tossing them out when Kid Flash had zoomed in yelling about ‘leave no cookie behind’ and then began to eat them.

M’Gann had stuttered out something about them not being good, and making a new batch, but KF had just waved her off and mumbled something unintelligible. M’Gann shook her head and walked back into the kitchen for a second try at baking cookies.

Then, Robin had popped out of nowhere, as per usual. He sat beside KF, who asked him something equally unintelligible as before, but that Robin had somehow understood, if him nodding his head was anything to go by. Then, Robin joined KF in eating the cookies, albeit at a more conservative pace.

“Those things are nothing more than charcoal and burnt chocolate.” Artemis stated in wonder.

Aqualad nodded. “I remember the first time I saw Robin, Wally, and Roy eating something no one else would. We had been left in the care of the Justice League while our mentors were on a mission. This is back when they were still based in the Mountain. Anyway, one of the members decided to make a snack for us. Only they didn’t really know what they were doing and just grabbed random things from the cupboards and put them together. If memory serves, the resulting concoction had vegemite, spam, grape jelly, and cheezies, along with various other unidentifiable food stuffs.”

“Seriously?” Artemis asked.

“Seriously. Even the Flash wouldn’t eat it, but Roy, Wally, and Robin took it as a challenge. They didn’t manage to eat all of it, but ever since then they’ve had this thing about attempting to eat things other people find gross. They don’t limit themselves to just gross foods, they’ll do other challenges too. Like ‘who can handle the most hot sauce.’ I think it actually started out as that, because when Green arrow heard about the incident, he didn’t seem surprised.”

“So, what do you do when they do this? Just sit back and watch?” Artemis asked.

“Yes. Sometimes the results can be rather… Amusing. Remind me to tell you some other time about the incident with Martian Manhunter’s Oreos.” Kaldur grinned.

#5 You Know Garth has Said That Exact Same Thing…

Kaldur stared at Robin oddly. “Say that again?”

“Uhm, gobbledygook? Robin repeated himself with a shrug.

Kaldur frowned, “I think I’ve heard that before somewhere.”

“Seriously, that sounded familiar to you? I think you’re going loopy Kaldur.” Artemis replied, blocking a swing from M’Gann.

“Robin’s probably said it before.” Surperboy grunted. Then tossed a swing at Wally.

Wally laughed. “Too slow.” He tripped Superboy, sending him to the floor. The automated tone announced that Superboy was disqualified.

At the same time, Robin tossed Kaldur into Artemis. Wally then swooped in behind M’Gann and kicked her put of the ring.

“Team Robin – Kid Flash win.”

Robin gave an echoey laugh. Wally cheered.

“See you losers later.” Wally boasted, then zoomed off to go change his clothes so that he and Robin could go out to grab some pizza. Robin also left to go get changed.

Artemis groaned. “They’re going to hold this over us forever.”

The others nodded glumly.

Black canary approached them from behind. “Maybe they wouldn’t have something to brag about if you were more focused on combat instead of something Robin said.”

“He distracted us. Isn’t that cheating?” Superboy sulked.

Black Canary frowned and crossed her arms. “No, it’s a legitimate tactic. Do you think enemies in the field won’t try to distract you at some point? Trust me, they will.” She gave Superboy a long look top see if what she had said had sunk in. It hadn’t, but atleast she tried. That boy didn’t always listen to her when he should.

Looking around to the other teens, she saw that the message had a better impact on them. Kaldur in particular seemed embarrassed about his lack of focus.

“Oh, by the way, Kaldur, Aquaman wants you. He said something about a Garth?”

Kaldur nodded. “Yes, it’s Garth’s birthday. I’m going to head to Atlantis after I’ve changed out. Thank you for the reminder.”

“Don’t thank me, thank Aquaman.”

“I shall endeavour to do so.” Kaldur replied. He, Superboy, M’gann, and Artemis then left to go freshen themselves up.

Garth…. Kaldur had almost forgot about his birthday. It was odd now hat he was on the surface. He often found himself forgetting about his childhood friends.

They used to play pretend about the surface: himself, Garth, and Tula. Garth would always come up with the strangest ‘surface’ saying, claiming they were legitimate.

Sayings like gobbledygook, come to think of it. He had heard _Garth_ say that before. It had been a favourite of his, actually.

How did Robin know it?

It wasn’t just coincidence, was it? Maybe it was an actual surface saying that Garth had come across? Then again, Robin wasn’t really the type to use an actual saying, he was much more likely to make one up. So, maybe it was a coincidence after all.

Kaldur shook his head. It didn’t matter. Instead he switched to thinking about where he had put the gift he bought for Garth. Was it in his closet or beside his desk…?

+1 Researching the Justice Society (Wait is that Robin, KF, Red Arrow and Garth? And look there’s Zatanna Sr.!)

“So Red Tornado, you were a member of the Justice Society back when it was active, right?” Miss Martian asked, approaching the android who was currently going over read-outs on the cave’s security.

“Yes, I was. Why do you ask?” He responded turning around to face her. Only now seeing that she was not alone. Behind her was Aqualad, Artemis, and Superboy. In Miss Martian’s quivering hands was a sheet of paper. She was nervous, he realized. Why was she nervous? After all, she saw him everyday.

“You need not be nervous Miss Martian. I meant no ill intentions. Is there something you wished to ask me about? I will answer to the best of my ability.” He said in an attempt to calm her.

Miss Martian nodded meekly, “because of all that’s been happening lately, what with T. O. Morrow and Kent Nelson, and of course, Mr. Scott, we decided to look up the Justice Society and its members. We found this old picture with all of you in it but…” Miss Martian took a deep breath. “We couldn’t identify who some of the people are, and any search we ran on them came up with nothing. We were wondering if maybe you could tell us who they were?” Miss Martian held out the printed copy of the picture.

“Of course.” Red Tornado responded, taking the paper from her. As he began to look it over the team got more and more nervous. What was taking him so long? They started to exchange unsure looks. Had this been the right choice, or did he have bad memories associated with them?

“Who was it that you could not identify?” Red Tornado asked.

Miss Martian slapped her head. “Hello M’gann! I forget to tell you who we were wondering about!” She floated over to Red Tornado and pointed out five figures standing in the group.

“Ah, I see why you would not know who they are. They were not very well recorded by the newspapers back then. They were known by the public, yes, but they were around before the fascination with heroes by the media really took root. As such, I am not surprised that you could not find out much about them.”

Red Tornado turned around and brought up an enlarged projection of the image so that the entire team could see. He pointed to the youngest looking of the five un-known heroes.

“The one in the first row, beside myself is Mercury. He was a speedster much like the current Flash. He was also Jay Garrick, the Flash at the time’s, younger partner in fighting crime. Beside him is Arsenal,” He continued pointing to a young man with a bow and arrows strapped to his back, along with all sorts of gizmos and gadgets. “So named because he carried many different types weaponry on him at all times. He used to patrol Star City back then.”

“Really?” Artemis said, she had never heard of a hero from Star City before Green Arrow and Black Canary.

“Yes, you’ll find that many of these heroes protected cities that are now protected by yourselves or members of the League. It would seem that super villains and related crime gravitates towards certain locations. Speaking of which this young man here in the back was Atlantean. His name was also Aqualad, and he too served under an Aquaman.”

Aqualad’s eyes widened, “I was not aware that there had been such contact between Atlantis and the Surface World. They did not teach this at the Conservatory. In fact, nobody has ever mentioned this.”

“That is likely because of the previous Aqualad’s demise. Afterwards Atlantis cut off what little contact they had with us. It was only many years later that your Aquaman finally restored communication.”

“What happened to him? The previous Aqualad, I mean.” Miss Martian asked.

“I do not know. I was not there when the accident occurred. However, he was not the only casualty that day.” Red Tornado paused. “I am getting off track. Where was I? Ah, yes. Zatanna Senior.” He pointed to the woman wearing magician’s garbs sitting next to a very young looking Zatara.

“Is that Zatara!?” Artemis croaked.

“Yes, magicians have naturally longer life spans as a result of their magic.” Red Tornado informed her.

Artemis just muttered at the strangeness of it all.

“She looks a lot like Zatanna.” Superboy remarked.

The others nodded their head in agreement. It was a little freaky, actually. They looked so much alike they could be twins.

“Yes, if memory serves, she is her aunt. She died shortly before Zatanna was born. So, they’ve never met. Zatanna is named after her.”

The room filled with silence. They had never asked Zatanna about any relatives other than her father. They just assumed they were ordinary civilians.

Red Tornado, skilled in reading the atmosphere (how else would he know how to interact and respond appropriately) saw the sullen mood that had fallen over everyone and decided to draw attention away from Zatanna Sr.

“There was another hero you wanted to know about?”

“Oh! Yes!” M’gann jumped up and rushed to the image. “The one in the cape, right here.” She said, pointing to a man who appeared to be wearing a brightly coloured cape. “What’s his name?”

“His name was Robin, although I doubt that the current Robin knew about him when he chose his name. Like Robin, he too protected Gotham. He was a rather joyful young man, very few could bring themselves to completely dislike him. He was very charismatic, and skilled on the field too. He had been fighting crime for as long as, if not longer, than most of us. The JSA lost a very valuable member when he left.”

“Do you know what happened to him?” Miss Martian asked, “and Aqualad too. You mentioned something about an accident?”

“I did. That was a very sad day in the history of the Justice society. Nothing was the same afterwards.”

“What do you mean?” Superboy asked.

“It was this accident that led to the eventual disbanding of the JSA. Most of this generation of heroes had already put out of duty as a result of World War II. Then the majority of the youngest members perished in the accident. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The Justice Society’s moral never fully recovered. By two years’ time the Society had disbanded. Although most of the surviving members continued to be superheroes.”

“If you do not mind me asking, what exactly happened?” Aqualad inquired.

Red Tornado paused to look over the team. Each of them had their full attention put on him, waiting to learn more. Seeing this, Red Tornado knew that if he didn’t tell them now, they would look for answers elsewhere. Possibly leading them to stumble on something they shouldn’t.

“Very well, I suppose it will not hurt to tell you. I suggest we go somewhere you will find more comfortable. This may take a while,” he gestured to the living room where the couches were. Once the team was all settled he began his tale…

“It was the early 1950s, shortly after the Green Lantern at the time, Alan Scott had returned from his disappearance. We had received a tip towards an unknown device that could kill large amounts of people at a time. We believed it to be a few radicals leftover from the war trying to start it up again. It was decided that Arsenal, Mercury, Aqualad and Robin would go in to investigate.” If Red Tornado could frown, he would.

“It was a trap. The League of Shadows was the one who sent the tip. They had built a device for an unknown purpose. All we do know is that they planned to test it on whoever was sent to investigate.”

Much is not known about what exactly happened that day. The only one’s who knew precisely what that device was supposed to do are members of the League of Shadows, and quite possibly dead by know. All we do know is from a message that Robin managed to get through to us before the device exploded. When they went in to the warehouse where the device was stored, they were ambushed by Ra’s men. They succeeded in fighting them off, and the assassins called a retreat. Unknown to them at the time one of the assassins had set off the timer for the device. Robin was still radioing us when it went off.

At first, we were unsure of what had happened. All we could hear from the other end was static. After a few minutes we decided to go after them. Flash, myself, Wonder Woman and Aquaman were the first to arrive. There was hardly anything off them left.

Afterwards many investigations were made into finding out what exactly happened. We found nothing. Six months later they were declared officially dead. A year later the Society was no more.”

The team sat there, wide eyed.

Artemis couldn’t believe it. In all her time with the League of Shadows she had never once heard of this. The deaths of four heroes was never something to sneer at. So, why would they keep it quiet? It just didn’t add up.

Miss Martian was glad that humans couldn’t read minds right now. It was so sad, they were all so young and they died. She couldn’t help but think ‘what if that happened to her team?’ After all, all it would take is one mission gone wrong…

Superboy was unsure of how he felt. They had taught him a lot at Cadmus. Of wars and death tolls, horrible things done to men by men. All reasons to never stray from the light. Yet somehow, this seemed more personal. Looking over at Miss Martian he could see how close she was to crying and his heart hurt. He never wanted to see her cry, and if the deaths of what was basically a 1940s version of them hurt her, the he would do anything to prevent that from happening again.

Aqualad still couldn’t take the shock of it all. There had been another Aqualad, another Aquaman. Relations between his people and the surface had once been on a good track. He couldn’t help but wonder what Atlantis would have been like growing up if the fear and disdain for the surface world didn’t exist. If they had been in a peaceful, co-existence long before his own king took up the mantle ‘Aquaman.’ He wondered if there had been other Aqualad’s and Aquaman’s before them. A long line of Atlantean superheroes, and if so, why had he never heard of them. Surely this was something of pride for his kingdom?

He had so many questions running through his head, but there was one he couldn’t even bear himself to think: what would his king do if he died?

Red tornadoes mechanical voice interrupted their shock. “I believe that it is best you go to town and have a ‘staycation?’ I believe they are called. It will help ease your minds of what you have heard, and be assured, we now have safety measures in place to hopefully prevent such an incident from re-occurring.”

The team looked to each other before leaving. Some r&r was exactly what they needed right now. For some of them horror of what could happen to them hadn’t really set in until now. For the others, well, death was never very pleasant to think about.

After the last name was announced by the computer Kid Flash appeared beside Red Tornado.

“So, you told them, huh?”

“Not the entire story, but they should be satisfied with my answer and not end up uncovering something they shouldn’t.”

“That’s good to hear. Anyhow, I was sent here to tell you that everyone’s having a get together later today at Jay’s house and you’re invited to come if you want.”

“Why was I not informed of this earlier?” If Red Tornado had an eyebrow, he would’ve raised it.

Wally shrugged. “It was kind of last-minute thing. The League finally figured out a way to send Alan back and we’re giving him a bit of a send off.”

“What time is the gathering?”

“Good to hear you’ll be coming. Everyone’s supposed to be there around 5 o’clock. See you then!” He said before zooming off.

Red Tornado took one last look at the picture of the Justice Society. Things had been… happier back then, and he missed some of his old colleagues who had passed away or he had fell out of touch with after the Society disbanded. It was one of the many bittersweet aspects of being an android: he would outlive his friends by many years unless he was dismantled or destroyed beyond repair.

Looking at the familiar, cheeky grin and excited eyes of Mercury, both older and yet younger than their current holder, Red Tornado was reminded that he had some friends who would stay with him throughout the years. Hiding their history with lies, misdirection, half-truths and some of Fate’s magic to hide the fact that they were just as lost from times’ grasp as he was.


End file.
